Suit Blames Dcf In Abuse Of Kids

Even though her own children were removed from her care after she was deemed an unfit parent, Jackie Lynch was allowed to foster and adopt six children.

All suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse during the many years in her care, according to a lawsuit in federal court. Lynch, meanwhile, gambled away their adoption subsidies playing bingo.

The suit, which was filed in state court in 1999 and moved at the end of March to U.S. District Court in Miami, alleges the Department of Children & Families, Secretary Kathleen Kearney and five Broward County caseworkers were negligent in their care for the six children, who are siblings.

That negligence -- failing to visit the children, failing to read DCF abuse reports and failing to do something about it once they suspected the children were unsafe -- has led the children to suffer egregious physical and emotional abuse, the suit states.

The department has declined to comment, stating the case is in litigation, spokeswoman Eva Coblentz said.

"It's actually one of the biggest tragedies we've seen," said Howard Talenfeld, one of the children's lawyers. Talenfeld, partnering with the San Francisco-based Youth Law Center and other Broward attorneys, recently settled a class-action lawsuit with the department on behalf of all children in Broward County's foster care system.

The six siblings, who include two sets of twins, range in age from 6 to 13 and are in therapeutic foster care. The suit seeks damages to cover their psychological needs.

The oldest of the children began living with the Lynches in 1991, and the other children soon followed. The children lived in one room with no furniture, the suit states. They slept on the floor and were not allowed to leave the room. With no access to a bathroom, the children urinated and defecated in the room. To clean themselves, they jumped in the pool.

The suit also states the children were forced to drink Nyquil to make them sleep, were malnourished and were sexually and physically abused.